Faith and Justice: A new study shows that the U.S. Catholic church is becoming more Hispanic, but Hispanics are becoming less Catholic. How can that be?
Faith & Parish
The U.S. bishops, meeting June 11-13 in New Orleans, will discuss today's economy and its impact on marriages and evangelization. They will also review their efforts in preventing sexual abuse of children, strengthening marriage, helping typhoon victims and preparing for upcoming church-sponsored events on family life.
The bishops will hear presentations on "Marriage and the Economy" and "the New Evangelization and Poverty" on the second day of their gathering before they close for executive sessions.
More than half (55 percent) of the nation's estimated 19.6 million Hispanics identify as Catholic, according a new report, but that's 12 percentage points below 2010.
Norman Carroll says he is an Episcopal deacon today rather than a Roman Catholic one largely because of a one-on-one conversation in February 2013.
Distinctly Catholic: That the future of the U.S. Catholic church is largely Hispanic is well known but not understood. This report seeks to provide data to leaders making decisions.
Gesture of affection signals yet another bond between laity and pontiff. The idea if a layperson embracing a pope would have been unheard of in earlier pontificates.
The number of Catholics in the world and the number of priests, permanent deacons and religious men all increased in 2012, while the number of women in religious orders continued to decline, according to Vatican statistics.
The number of candidates for the priesthood also showed its first global downturn in recent years.
The statistics come from a recently published Statistical Yearbook of the Church, which reported worldwide church figures as of Dec. 31, 2012.
There are still major hurdles before the Milwaukee archdiocese's bankruptcy plan is presented for a vote by claimants, of whom 575 are survivors of sexual abuse.
Believers don't buy the Big Bang, God-less evolution or a human responsibility for global warming. Actually, neither do many Americans.
But a new survey by The Associated Press found that religious identity -- particularly evangelical Protestant -- was one of the sharpest indicators of skepticism toward key issues in science.
Fr. Edward Belczak was indicted on mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges. At issue is nearly $700,000 donated between 2004 and 2012 that have not been accounted for.